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aeturnum's review
3.0
Palmer does a wonderful job of describing a vital, detailed world. Her vision for the possibilities of humanity and society is the most compelling aspect of the book.
The people we meet from the world are somewhat less compelling. The story is one of political intrigue and finding opponents hidden in the shadows, so one should expect to be uncertain about who to trust and who is lying. Unfortunately, I often found it hard to tell if I was confused because I was being misled or because I didn't understand the cultural world being described.
The narrative is framed as a memoir of one of the characters about the hurried, important days that are the subject of the book that will bring forth the world that the presumed reader inhabits. There are at least four different time periods depicted in this book: the eighteenth century, the 2450's, the "present day" and the narrator's youth (around 2435). Implicitly, of course, there is also our time period: the 2010's.
There is a lot of cultural commentary about the narrator's fondness for either antiquated or taboo forms of description or cultural norms. I think Palmer is trying to bring out this sense of cultural change and make that change visible and material in the story, but for me it was simply confusing. Are the things happening in 2450 taboo? To whom? They seem fine to me, but our narrator seems horrified. Is he horrified for himself or because someone from 2450 would be horrified? There are many reveals where the tension comes from a 2450 character needing to decide if they can live with the "shocking" or "unconventional" information they just learned - but to me none of it seemed shocking! I often wasn't sure how sincere characters were: was this an act? Is this strategy? When are characters mastering their basic reactions and when are they simply going with the flow? I could not tell you.
On the whole, I found the character work disappointing, not just for the reasons above. There are a lot of philosophical justifications that seem very convincing to our heroes but seemed disconnected from human experience to me. Frequently characters are revealed to have some kind of double purpose, but the weaving of various cultures (both between time periods and between 2450's competing cultural narratives) left me feeling uncertain about everything. It doesn't help that our narrator is a close personal associate of literally everyone who runs the world - a narrative device whose use is obvious but which strains credibility.
Beyond being confused by the narrative and bemused by the character choices there are many of the sci-fi tropes I consider unfortunate. One of the groups in 2450 is a leaderless anarchist collective who are perfectly competent and just a bit slower than the other groups. Please, authors, consider that by creating a world where perfection is not just possible but already present that you symbolically devalue the imperfect characters in your narrative.
Finally, this book makes an odd effort at being inclusive about gender. It depicts a future where gender-neutral terms are the norm, but where a *great deal* of time is spent speaking about the genitalia of particular characters. It was odd. I could not tell if characters had "gender identities" as we would understand them today and the narrator was being rude or there was some other dynamic at play.
The people we meet from the world are somewhat less compelling. The story is one of political intrigue and finding opponents hidden in the shadows, so one should expect to be uncertain about who to trust and who is lying. Unfortunately, I often found it hard to tell if I was confused because I was being misled or because I didn't understand the cultural world being described.
The narrative is framed as a memoir of one of the characters about the hurried, important days that are the subject of the book that will bring forth the world that the presumed reader inhabits. There are at least four different time periods depicted in this book: the eighteenth century, the 2450's, the "present day" and the narrator's youth (around 2435). Implicitly, of course, there is also our time period: the 2010's.
There is a lot of cultural commentary about the narrator's fondness for either antiquated or taboo forms of description or cultural norms. I think Palmer is trying to bring out this sense of cultural change and make that change visible and material in the story, but for me it was simply confusing. Are the things happening in 2450 taboo? To whom? They seem fine to me, but our narrator seems horrified. Is he horrified for himself or because someone from 2450 would be horrified? There are many reveals where the tension comes from a 2450 character needing to decide if they can live with the "shocking" or "unconventional" information they just learned - but to me none of it seemed shocking! I often wasn't sure how sincere characters were: was this an act? Is this strategy? When are characters mastering their basic reactions and when are they simply going with the flow? I could not tell you.
On the whole, I found the character work disappointing, not just for the reasons above. There are a lot of philosophical justifications that seem very convincing to our heroes but seemed disconnected from human experience to me. Frequently characters are revealed to have some kind of double purpose, but the weaving of various cultures (both between time periods and between 2450's competing cultural narratives) left me feeling uncertain about everything. It doesn't help that our narrator is a close personal associate of literally everyone who runs the world - a narrative device whose use is obvious but which strains credibility.
Beyond being confused by the narrative and bemused by the character choices there are many of the sci-fi tropes I consider unfortunate. One of the groups in 2450 is a leaderless anarchist collective who are perfectly competent and just a bit slower than the other groups. Please, authors, consider that by creating a world where perfection is not just possible but already present that you symbolically devalue the imperfect characters in your narrative.
Finally, this book makes an odd effort at being inclusive about gender. It depicts a future where gender-neutral terms are the norm, but where a *great deal* of time is spent speaking about the genitalia of particular characters. It was odd. I could not tell if characters had "gender identities" as we would understand them today and the narrator was being rude or there was some other dynamic at play.
canaanmerchant's review
4.0
A wonderful challenge. Science fiction where the most radical changes are found in society rather than technology.
Like I said, it's wonderful. The writing here is dense and focused while the world building is thorough and intriguing with every scene revealing something fascinating.
But it's also a challenge. There's no hand holding, characters are numerous (with multiple names and factions), and the narrator intentionally confuses the reader by switching between contemporary, antiquated, and imagined modes of address.
That can make the story inch by at times and major characters seem to get the least amount of page time but I look forward to seeing the fall out of the books events.
Like I said, it's wonderful. The writing here is dense and focused while the world building is thorough and intriguing with every scene revealing something fascinating.
But it's also a challenge. There's no hand holding, characters are numerous (with multiple names and factions), and the narrator intentionally confuses the reader by switching between contemporary, antiquated, and imagined modes of address.
That can make the story inch by at times and major characters seem to get the least amount of page time but I look forward to seeing the fall out of the books events.
scribewarden's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
stevo1977's review
Interesting premise, world, and narrative style, but too slow for me to get into. There's a magical child, who is hinted to be responsible for upsetting/revolutionizing the world social and political order, but 100 pages in no progress has been made on how our why that might happen.
rc_boxnut's review against another edition
Welp. This is definitely the weirdest thing I've read since The Gray House.
crimsoncor's review
3.0
The first two-thirds are so slow and dense with political and social theory. And then everything explodes and the last couple hundred pages are just an incredible deconstruction of all the things that were just built up. The extended build-up does make the denouement even more shocking and surprising, but it is some real work to get there.
third_bookworm's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
There's a review on the back of the hardcover copy of this book saying something like "Too Like the Lightning will stay in your head for a long time." and man. It sure will.
This book tries to do a lot, and I'm not sure it fully delivers on a lot of it. Super interesting concepts are introduced, but I think it will depend on the rest of the series whether this are really followed through on.
This book tries to do a lot, and I'm not sure it fully delivers on a lot of it. Super interesting concepts are introduced, but I think it will depend on the rest of the series whether this are really followed through on.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism, Murder, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Incest, Car accident, Death of parent, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Child death, Misogyny, and Rape
mayafelice's review against another edition
challenging
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
5.0
I read this book a few years ago and I liked it, but this time, I loved it. I think the audiobook format adds a lot to the reading experience. This book has so many interesting things to say about politics, religion, and philosophy and is not afraid to ponder humanity's big questions. The kind of book that I think very few people would be able to write but many wish that they could.
heimidal's review
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
rubenmaes's review
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25